Blessing (Wendip Week 2017-Meet the Parents)
by William Easley
Summary: August 30, 2017: It's the night before, and a certain redhead just can't get to sleep. Rated T for tears.
1. Chapter 1

**Blessing**

 **(August 30, 2017)**

 **1**

* * *

The next day would be Dipper's eighteenth birthday.

And Wendy Corduroy couldn't sleep. Because.

Because of a lot of things. For a change, Dipper and Mabel weren't riding back to Piedmont on a bus, or driving themselves, or even flying down on an airplane. Instead, their dad and mom were coming to pick them up here, in Gravity Falls.

Because, though Wendy had met Mr. and Mrs. Pines many times—and though Mr. Pines especially was fond of her and talked her up—tomorrow she'd meet them in a whole different way.

Because "Mom, Dad," Dipper would tell them, "this is the girl I'm going to marry."

And—what?

Normally Wendy could stick her chin out and deal with anything, from a chimera to an animated mummy to a ghost. Normally she was fearless. But tonight—

 _What if Mrs. Pines brings up the age thing?_

 _No, I'm twenty, he's eighteen, big deal! My dad was younger than my mom when they married! Dipper says his mom's six months older than his dad, too. She doesn't let anybody know that, though._

 _And look at Ford and Stan! Decades, man!_

 _But—Dipper's always been his mom's favorite. What if she, like, hates the idea and disowns him? I couldn't come between him and his mom. So—what will I do then?_

She tossed and she turned so much that finally she couldn't stand it, got up, dressed, and quietly left the Corduroy cabin.

Maybe a walk in the woods would calm her. She walked straight back from the house, down a path through the woods that led to a shallow tinkling creek, crossed the creek on a tree trunk her dad had felled and then adzed off level to make a rough bridge, and started an upward climb that came out on the treeless crest of a hill.

She noticed how quiet it was—no insects, no owls, no wind. Bright moonlight making everything silvery and blue-shadowed.

Standing alone, with her arms crossed, Wendy stood there looking at the distant lights of town, bathed in the glow of a full moon, directly overhead— _Must be midnight_.

"No," Dipper said. "Later, I think. And the moon's really only just past first quarter. I think you're dreaming."

"Dude!" She turned around. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

Dipper shrugged. "I think I'm dreaming, too."

They embraced, and it felt warm and real enough. She leaned her forehead against his. "I still got two inches on you, Dip," she said fondly.

"You wear flats to the wedding," he said. "I'll wear heels."

That made her laugh. "Is this real?"

"I . . . don't know. We'll talk about it tomorrow and see who remembers what."

"This is weird, man. I never had a dream this intense."

"Nice weird, though," he said. They kissed, and that felt real too.

They heard a cough and looked around. Wendy wasn't surprised—though probably she should have been—to see Archibald Corduroy standing there, just at the edge of the forest. He had both eyes and looked younger than he had appeared to Dipper years before. And he had no axe embedded in his head, either, which improved his looks.

"Great-great granddad?" she asked.

He smiled and nodded. "Wendy. Someone wants to see you. I said I'd make the introduction. Hello, Dipper. Sorry about that turning you into wood thing."

"It's OK, man. You had issues."

"It's been a pleasure watching my little descendant here grow up to be a fine woman. And I know you're going to be a good man." He waved off anything they might have said in response and turned and beckoned. "Come on," he said in a surprisingly gentle voice.

From the forest at the foot of the hill walked—another Wendy.

"What?" Wendy asked. "Dude, who—"

"I'm your mother," the woman said softly as she stopped a few steps away. "Not the way I looked the last time you saw me, all wasted and sick. This is the way I looked when I was your age."

Her red hair was a lot shorter, but otherwise—they could have been twins. Like Wendy, Mrs. Corduroy wore a flannel shirt, jeans, and boots. "Wendy, Dipper," Archibald said, "this is Wendy's mother, Mrs. Amanda Blerble Corduroy."

Wendy said, "Oh!" She stepped forward. "I—can I touch you?"

Mrs. Corduroy smiled and spread her arms, and Wendy rushed into them. "I missed you so bad," Wendy said, her voice muffled.

Her mother stroked her long hair. "I've been watching you," she said softly. "I was never very far away." She raised her hand and gestured, and Dipper came over shyly and grasped it. "Mason Pines," Mrs. Corduroy said. "Or shall I call you Dipper?"

"Whatever you want, ma'am," Dipper said.

Then Wendy's mother embraced them both at once and kissed first Wendy, then Dipper. "I want you to know you have my blessing," she whispered. "I want you to tell Dan that, too." Her voice became a little sad. "I can't appear to him, you see. He misses me too much, and it would break his heart. But tell him you saw me and that I still love him just as much as I ever did."

Wendy stepped away—not far—and stared at her. In a weeping and laughing voice, she said, "You know what? I never knew your last name was Blerble before you married dad! Not until, like, two years ago! See, Dad wouldn't ever tell me my middle name, just that my initial was B."

"Oh, Dan can be so stubborn! My father was Henry Ward Blerble," she said. "My grandfather welcomed Dan into the family. My father, well, father thought Dan was too young and too poor for me and didn't. And Dan was an awfully proud man. I saw my father often enough after Dan and I were married, and he knew I was happy, but he went his way and Dan went his. The two of them never spoke, and even when we were poor, Dan wouldn't accept any help from him." She touched Wendy's cheek. "But don't be concerned about yourself. I have it on good authority that Mrs. Pines is going to be very happy with your announcement, darling. Stop worrying."

"Thank you, Mom," Wendy said.

"Dipper," Mrs. Corduroy said, "Don't you be afraid tomorrow. Just tell your mother, while you hold Wendy's hand. Just say it: We're in love, and we're going to be married. She already knows Wendy's good for you." She winked. "We mothers know more about love than you young folks think we do."

Archibald led Dipper off a little way and let the womenfolk have their talk, as he said. Archibald spoke of the forest and how much and how little it had changed in the last century and a half. Dipper listened. And some time afterward—too soon—Wendy came and took his hand and they turned and the ghosts were gone.

"I guess we have to wake up now," Wendy said sadly.

"I guess so. I love you so much."

"I love you, Big Dipper. More than I can say."

And mumbling, "More than I can say," Wendy opened her eyes and realized she was in bed. The clock's display said it was nearly three in the morning. Her phone chimed—Dipper's ring. She rolled over, got it, and thumbed it on. "Hi."

"Uh—hi. Wendy, sorry for calling this late. I just woke up. I had this dream—"

"I was there," Wendy said. "I know."

"Uh—on the hilltop? And we got your mom's blessing?" he asked tentatively.

"Yeah. We did."

His voice sounded joyful: "It was real."

She gently corrected him: "It _is_ real."

"Yeah," he said. "It is real."

And that was all they needed to say.


	2. Chapter 2

**Blessing**

* * *

 **2 (Written for Wendip Week 2017 for the prompt 5 1)**

 **(August 31, 2017)**

"Mabel," Dipper asked early on the morning of their eighteenth birthday, "can I borrow your car?"

"Nope!" she chirped brightly. "But I'll drive you to Wendy's house!"

"Uh . . . I want to . . . ask Manly Dan something."

"Yup! So, you might need a driver to get you to the hospital." Mabel had gone retro—a new version of her rainbow sweater, and her hair band in a matching red—and they set out right after an early breakfast.

It was only seven o'clock, but Manly Dan was an early riser. "Git them trees before they're full awake," was his motto.

Gravity Falls was already stirring on that Thursday morning—a morning that threatened rain later, with low gray clouds. Mabel's graduation present, a new Chevy Sonic (bright red, stick shift, a compromise because Mabel had requested a BMW M6, a wee bit pricey), took the curves well, though Dipper had to grip the edge of his seat from time to time.

"Off to college next month," Mabel said. "So—you and Wendy are gonna room together, I guess?"

"Married couples do," Dipper said between clenched teeth.

"Set the date?"

"Today."

"No freakin' way!"

"Yeah—squirrel! Squirrel! That was close. Just a civil ceremony, to make it legal. Then on September 15, we'll have the church ceremony and you'll be—"

"Maid of Honor! Yes!"

* * *

Wendy was waiting on the porch of the Corduroy house. She hugged both Mabel and Dipper. "Happy birthday, you guys! I now pronounce you technically adults. Mortgages and weight control forever!"

"Is, is your dad—?"

"In the living room, dude. Mabes, let me drive your car for a little ride with you?"

"Sure! Here's the keys. Try not to hit any wildlife!"

* * *

Manly Dan glowered at him. "Well. Finally come around, did you?"

"Yes—yes, sir. I love Wendy, and she's agreed to marry me. I—I—we—I—"

"Spit it out!"

Dipper gulped, feeling like a twelve-year-old again. "I want to ask your blessing on our marriage!"

For many seconds, Manly Dan just glared at him. "You think you're man enough for my baby girl?"

Taking a deep breath, Dipper said, "If I'm not, I'll die trying to be."

Manly Dan cracked his knuckles. "Here's the deal. Let's put you to the test. Six, in fact. You fail 'em, you can't marry my daughter. You pass three, I'll give my OK."

Dipper clenched his jaw. "You're ten times stronger than I am, and I know the kind of test you'll put me to. Let's say if I pass one, you'll give us your blessing."

"One. OK. I hope you know what you're up against."

"I think I'll find out."

* * *

The two trees were of identical girth. Manly Dan said "Ready, set, go!"

Their axes flew. Dipper had learned a little about tree chopping from Wendy—but Dan's muscles and expertise had deep roots. Chips flew from his tree like sawdust from a buzz saw. When he yelled, "Timber!" and his tree crashed to the floor of the forest, Dipper had cut maybe a tenth of the way into the trunk of his own tree.

"One down," Dan said with a fierce grin. "I'll finish that one for ya. We don't have all day."

* * *

Dipper had seen Wendy do this a dozen times—loop the belt around the trunk, walk yourself up, quickly relocate the belt, repeat. Tree climbing, easy-peasy.

He got up five feet, lost two while repositioning the belt. Up ten, lost two more. Up fifteen—

"Two down!" Dan yelled from the crown of the tree. "You aint' doin' so well, sonny boy!"

* * *

"Let's do something I'm good at," Dipper suggested.

"Like what?"

"Math."

Dan grinned. "How many board feet of timber are in that first tree I cut? We'll measure it and calculate."

Maybe if Dipper had ever heard of the term "board feet" he might have stood a chance. As it was—

"I got 2500," Dan said. "Halfway through, and you ain't come up a winner yet. You want to check my figures?"

"No, I'm sure you're right," Dipper said with a sigh.

"Three to go, son. You want to go through with this?"

"Sir," Dipper said, "I'll see it out. But if I fail every single one and you don't give us your blessing—you know we're still going to be married."

"That so?"

"It's so."

* * *

They drove to the lake, to the place where back in July the lumbermen had thrown their get-together. In the pen a waterlogged, well, log, still floated. "Log rollin'," Dan said. "I know you seen us do this. First one to fall in the water loses."

For the first time that morning, Dipper gave Dan a run for his money. His track experience had given him speed and agility, and they were as important as sheer bulk and strength.

Forward, reverse, canny stop, leap, faster, slower—the log revolved in the water as the two struggled to stay on it.

And then something went wrong. Dipper's foot slipped on the slimy log. Dan reached down and plucked him out of the water.

"Down to two, boy."

* * *

At least Dan lent Dipper some of his son's old clothes, though Dipper did not feel at home, really, in flannel shirt and overalls. Next was—the hatchet toss.

Dan had a target set up out back. "My baby girl," he said, "can get five in the circle every time. Let me show you how."

It was almost like a juggling trick. Dan held four hatchets in his left hand, one in his right, and onetwothreefourfive he threw, shifted another, threw again, and all five were in the air practically simultaneously. With solid-sounding _thwacks!_ they embedded themselves in the wood and stuck there quivering inside the faded ring of the painted circle.

Dipper . . . didn't have the knack. The very first one hit handle-first and bounced off. In the end, he managed to get one hatchet to stick, and it was outside the circle.

"I got my doubts about you," Dan said. "One chance left."

"Next?" Dipper asked grimly.

Dan grinned at him. "Arm wrasslin'."

* * *

"So . . ." Wendy said suspiciously, "Dad _let_ you win?"

"Not exactly," Dipper said. "We sat down at the table, got into position—he had to sit way back because his arms are so much longer—and when he said, 'I'll count to three, and then we go,' I interrupted his count. I said, 'Sir, I just want you to know why I think I'm man enough. When I was thirteen years old, I slept with Wendy.'"

Wendy and Mabel both gasped.

Dipper shrugged. "He was so shocked that I think he was paralyzed for a second. That was when I slammed his fist down on the table and then, real quickly, explained that we just fell asleep watching TV on the floor in the Shack that New Year's, and nothing happened."

"And—you're not a ghost, are you?" Mabel asked. "He didn't kill you?"

"No. He laughed. He clapped me on the shoulder so hard I think I have a mild sprain. He said, 'That's what I was waiting for, boy! I know you got the Pines smarts. Listen, I want me some good strong, smart grandkids from you and my daughter. You get to work on that soon.'"

Wendy blushed. "That's my dad!"

"But," Dipper said, "he also told me he was just funning with me. He was going to give us his blessing anyway."

"Well-p," Mabel said, "that's one down. Now for Mom and Dad."

"Two down," Wendy said.

"Say what?" Mabel asked.

Dipper chuckled. "We'll tell you," he said, "when you're older."


End file.
